Sunday, September 13, 2009

7 Years

I'll interupt my previous catch up posts to add this one...and then maybe I can get back to catching up on the rest of our summer activities.

First...7 years ago today Kenny and I had our first date. Our lives certainly have grown and changed in those seven years. Wow! I can say though, we did nothing special today. Kenny is working hard at selling a bunch of his "stuff" (that's my nice work for his junk piles) and the guy who was coming this weekend to buy it cancelled at the last minute but is taking more of the "stuff" next weekend! For me, lots of housework, playing with Charlie...the most exciting thing so far was that I found and made a very tasty egg free pancake recipe. It got a big thumbs up from Kenny and Charlie. :)

As we are traveling through the 1 year mark from all of Kenny's hospital adventures last year, it has hit me hard. Life was rough then. We are young and why did we have to go through all of that. I remember exact times, dates, places, people and things that happened vividly. It's kind of like emotional scarring. Even though Kenny went through a lot, maybe he was the lucky one since he doesn't remember parts of it! Kenny and I were looking through pictures a few nights ago from 1 year ago...and remembering about how rough it was. And now, it really makes you realize how great he is now and how normal things are again. We ran across a few pictures that I never posted so I thought I would share them now.

Now, before I scare you with a few pictures from last year at this time, I'll show you a recent picture of the three of us....just so you can see how far Kenny has come.

Bedtime story. See...doesn't Kenny look great?!

This was a few days after his 3rd surgery that repaired the CSF leak. He was only allowed to sit up to eat three times a day and only to a certain degree. He has a towel around his neck to catch the food that might miss his mouth...it's hard to eat at a 30% angle. BUT...see the big smile?! That's my Kenny! Or maybe he's smiling because he's eating mac and cheese (which is a great dish if you ever have to eat at Northwestern)! As we looked at this picture the other night, I pointed out the egg shell foam that you can see on his bed...he had forgotten about that and moaned at the thought of lying on his back for that week.

Kenny happy to be sitting up a little and eating -- 2008.

So here are the pictures I never shared last year...I made something, this weekend last year, for Kenny. He was on bedrest, flat on his back, to allow the CSF leak to repair. One thing he LOVED to do in the hospital was look at a small picture book he had with mostly Charlie pictures in it. It was hard to do laying FLAT on your back. So, I took a piece of cardboard and taped it to a hanger. I used the other side to tape pictures on so that it could hang from the IV hanger thingy in the hospital. That way, when Kenny looked up, he could see the pictures. No holding the book at a weird angle.

See the hanger?

There's the pictures.

Kenny loved it. I got so many compliments from nurses AND the doctors once they looked underneath it from Kenny's angle and realized what I had done. It stayed out of the nurses way, but still gave Kenny something to look at. So, Kenny and I chatted that week last year about how to REALLY make these and sell them...and paton them. How do you do that? How do you find a company to make them?

When Kenny could sit up again, we moved it to the top of a shelf in his room. The hanger served as a back, like on a picture frame to hold it up across the room.

Anyway...someday, maybe we will make these for hospital patients. We already have thought of several purposes it could serve, besides what we show it as.

And as for us...1 year after these hospital pictures...we are great! I remember taking some of these pictures, hoping no one thought I was weird, but just trying to document what was going on in our lives. And now, they are a great way to look back and see how far we have come!

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Something to Live By...

Life is an opportunity, benefit from it.
Life is beauty, admire it.
Life is a dream, realize it.
Life is a challenge, meet it.
Life is a duty, complete it.
Life is a game, play it.
Life is a promise, fulfill it.
Life is sorrow, overcome it.
Life is a song, sing it.
Life is a struggle, accept it.
Life is a tragedy, confront it.
Life is an adventure, dare it.
Life is luck, make it.
Life is too precious, do not destroy it.Life is life, fight for it.-- Mother Teresa

The Three of Us

September 2012

Our Little Man

August 2012

My Boys

June 2010

Michelle and Charlie

June 2010

Michelle and Kenny

November 2009

About Me

Kenny and I have been married since November 2005. We have an amazing little boy, Charlie, that joined our family in June 2008. Kenny had the majority of a brain tumor removed in August 2008. That medical experience changed our lives for the better and we know now what really matters the most. We both love to travel and love to read but most of all we love to spend time together. Michelle loves shopping for bargains, cooking and getting a few moments to relax. Kenny loves cars and all other things engine powered. He has passed that love to little Charlie. Charlie loves to play with cars and trucks, read books and make his parents proud. I write this to record our family moments.